Myrene Law aka My Nanny

I could fill pages and pages about my Nanny. I'll try and keep it short.

I helped celebrate her 105th birthday yesterday. When my Dad and I brought her down to the room full of people (local residents, friends and family)I instantly started to tear up. I wasn't sad... not at all. I just had a moment of an overwhelming sense of pride to be related to this strong, independent woman.

There are two specific times in my life that I remember where my Nanny was semi famous. The first was when I was still a teenager, the second when she turned 103.

There used to be a small private airport less than a mile from her(this)house. She would sometimes take me there and we would sit in the parking area and watch the planes land and take off. When they would fly over her house, they were usually very low since the airport was so close.

One day, when I was still a teenager, my Dad got a call from her letting him know that she just had one of those planes land in her yard. The pilot was shook up but not injured. My Nanny gave him a glass of water. One of the plane's wings was about 3 inches from her house. The news people came out and she was on it. I searched the WWW but was unable to find anything on this event. I guess, "when I was still a teenager", was too long ago.

When my Nanny turned 103, somehow the Jay Leno show found out and asked her to come out to be on the show. She had been featured in The Star Telegram and they wrote up a very good story on her. I'm thinking somehow the Leno Show found out through the paper. She politely declined the invitation to fly out to Burbank. She's a well traveled lady and she knows what it's like to travel and felt she just didn't have the strength to do something like that. She was quite famous around her retirement community and the paper came back out and interviewed her about turning down the Jay Leno Show. About a month after that, Gary Cogill from a local news station came out on Valentine's Day and did a big Valentine's Day story on her. It was SO freaking sweet.

Yesterday there were no news people. Just some guy in a tux singing songs from the 20's and 30's karaoke style. My Nanny said she didn't prefer that "contemporary style" music. He had a very nice voice, though. Kind of Frank Senatra-ish, but not as croonery. And although the whole thing had a very cheesy atmosphere to it and I wondered out loud to my mother on how much he was getting paid, the other attendees of the party seemed to enjoy him. Plus there were cake and balloons and a birthday crown.

The picture of the little doggy below has a sad, but sweet story. Her owner was once a resident of the community but she passed away several years ago. The dog was adopted by the whole place and as you can tell, she fits in quite nicely with her grandma sweater, painted toes, and her old lady walk. I'm not sure how old the sweet thing is, but she's up there with the rest of the gals and guys that live there. She was out and about enjoying the party as well.

HOW TO PARTY SENIOR STYLE